My frenzy month of July I managed to get my entire Flames of War army completed. I am into the US army for Flames of war. Bought myself a box set of US tank company 7th Division, blisters of Tank Destroyer units and armoured mortar units. Before I could start, paint was an issue as I had to get the correct colour as close to the WWII US army. I followed the colour guide from the Flames of War articles as close as possible. Ordered online the Vallejo Model paint range to get things started.
Painting the miniatures and tanks was a challenge. For colours, I had to constantly refer to the colour guides and recommendation from the Flames of War site. Unlike painting fantasy sci-fi miniatures where colours can be free flow and creative, colour choice in Flames of War I like it to be as close as possible to the real colour scheme in WWII reality. After all, Flames of War is a lesson in history through gaming.
For most of the tanks and vehicles I painted in this standard way. First, it is based in black as usual. Then it is followed by a base colour of Vallejo Violet Brown, and after that it is washed with Citadel Nuln oil. Once the wash is dried, a mixed white and Violet Brown is used to dry brush all around the vehicle or tank. Some of the high area, I further highlighted with the mix of white and Violet Brown. The tracks are then touched up with black, followed random dry brush of Citadel Bolt Gunmetal on the sides of the tracks. The sandy mud weathering effect is added by dry brushing using Citadel Snakebite Leather. The tool handles on the tanks and vehicles are painted with Vallejo Beige Brown, where the metals portion of the tools are painted with a mix of black and Citadel Bolt Gunmetal. These are then highlighted with a mix of white to the base colour respectively.
The decals given by Battlefront is not enough for every tanks in the 7th Armoured Division box set. And to add to the short of decals, the blisters armoured mortar M3 does not comes with decals as well. If I were add decals to all the tanks and vehicles and considering ordering from Battlefront or Wayland, I think its way too costly. In the end, I decided to use decals from Dom’s Decals. Dom’s Decals makes decals for Wings of Glory with most variation in size for WWII 15mm miniatures, and the price is very reasonable and cost-effective. So, my final 7th Division had all the decals applied from Dom’s. With the decals applied, the tanks and miniatures definitely looked amazing!
For the US soldiers, I followed the uniform guide from the Flames of war site. After base colour of Khaki is painted, I washed it with Citadel Agrax Earthshade. Then followed by highlight using mix of white and Vallejo Khaki. The rest of the pants and others, I washed with Citadel Nuln Oil, followed by a mix of white and its respective base colour for highlighting.
To base the soldiers, I used Vallejo White Pumice. Once dried, I painted the Pumice with Citadel Scorched Brown, followed by dry brush of Citadel Snakebite Leather and white. After that, flock the base with green flock and static grass. I had a lot of fun painting the crew from the M7 Priest, especially the staff team. As they were sitting around a table discussing artillery plans, I added maps on the table with green stuff so that it looked more realistic. With the scene painted, the Staff Team definitely looks more focus and engrossed in their discussion!
Overall, I sure had lot of fun painting the Flames of War 15mm miniatures. Definitely a fun 15mm experience. Just that it’s a history game, so colour choice was definitely a strict selection with lots of research. With most tanks I need all done, I am looking forward to painting some infantry troops. In the meantime, I will need to settle some case for transport for my 7th Armoured Division and get ready for a game or two! Cheers!
